Routine
by Maige
Summary: In the eyes of five-year old Maddie, life with Papa is perfect, though the repetitive nature is odd. It is when Dad comes back that she opens her eyes.  Eventual EnglandxFem!Canada. Canada's POV. Very dysfunctional family.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

If anyone was curious, the next chapter of Succubus is currently being written. I'm halfway through, but I've seemed to have gotten stuck in the middle of it, and I'm too tired to try to think of a way to continue it for the time being - but don't worry, it is coming out sooner or later.

Now, in the meantime, I'm going to try to get the writing juices flowing by putting out one of my bazzillion other side stories. I'm also planning on continuing on other stories, such as Let Down your Hair and Of the Other Type, but they're not on my priority list.

Here's another MapleTea, on of the billion useless plots that run around my head daily. I thank the amazing novel ROOM for being this particular idea in my head.

_Warnings:_ Other than the usual, this is wholly in the POV of Maddie, starting when was five. So expect disconnected, child-like sentences in the first large portion. Please also note that Francis and Arthur in this particular fanfic are rather young. So by the time Maddie is a teen, they'll be in their thirties.

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><p>First of all, we wake up.<p>

Open up our eyes and the great face of light is shining in our eyes, it hurts like crazy because Papa always opens the curtains to take me away from the Sandman.

Kumarie whispers something to me, _only just a bit more sleep, si'l vous plait, _and I nod because I agree with her. I always want more sleep. Papa says I could sleep the day away like a owl, like those ones with the giant eyes and they can twist their heads all around -

But then Papa comes over with a big smile. Papa's face is large and kind of hairy at the bottom, but he has beautiful hair surrounding it, all yellow and long like a girl's, and his eyes, which are blue, always have a nice look in them.

Because of that I know that I don't have to be scared of Papa. How can anyone can be scared of their Papa? He's always nice, even though he always wakes me up with the big _whoosh _light.

"Rise and shine, mon cheri," he says happily, lifting a gigantic hand to pat my head.

"Why do you say that always in the morning?" I ask him as I sit up. Then I raise my hands all the way to the ceiling for a stretch and yawn the biggest yawn before he can answer me.

He waits politely for me to stop yawning, because that's what gentleman do, and said, "It's just a phrase, mon chou. There's no real reason for anyone to say it - it simply makes your sentence much more fancy."

"Oh," I say, though I still don't really get it.

"Now, c'mon along Madeline. You need to get out of bed or...do you remember what I told you will happen?"

I remember. Papa told me, when I was four and still little, that when you sleep, the Sandman helps you sleep for the right amount of time so you won't do something called 'oversleep'. He keeps giving you his sleep sand while you're sleeping. But if you don't stop after how long you need, he'll keep giving you more because he thinks you still need it. You'll keep on sleeping until you go on forever.

Since I remembered it, I nodded and jumped out of bed, fast fast fast, holding Kumarie with me. Kumarie a polar bear, but not a scary one like the one in _The Fox and the Hound, _or the ones in _Care Bears. _She's just Kumarie. She forgets my name a lot.

Papa gives me a pat on the back to make me move faster, and calls me 'cheri' again, so I do, so fast that I can almost fly.

Papa speaks sometimes in another language, and so do I, because he taught me them. There are a lot, like Spanish in Dora, and Chinese in Kai-Lan. We speak French, from France, even though we live in a place called Canada.

After I get running, we have to do what Papa calls 'the daily routine'.

First we have to clean ourselves because Papa says that being clean is very, very important. Brushing our teeth - mine is all electronic and goes _voom voom _and has flowers all over it - and brushing our hair. Mine is yellow like Papa's and goes all the way to my knees.

We don't take a bath in the morning but at night because I get sleepy after it, and I can sleep better, without waking up in the middle of the night like I used to when I was two and all sick and throw-up.

After that we eat. I don't get why we have to brush our teeth before we eat, because our teeth get all dirty anyway.

Papa takes my hand and we walk down to the kitchen together, where he showed me that he made pancakes.

I almost jump all the way in the air. Pancakes are my favourite! I think it's what it would be like to eat a cloud - Papa says that a cloud would be more like cotton candy, but I secretly don't believe him. Kumarie thinks I'm right, though.

We both eat, and Papa lets me put on lots and lots of syrup on the pancakes, which makes them even more better. Syrup is all sticky, but I'm always careful with it. All the time Papa says I'm good because most kids are bad with syrup and put it over the walls and themselves. Why would you want to waste syrup like that?

When we're done, we have to brush our teeth again, and I sit at the kitchen table with Kumarie and talk with her while Papa has to wash the dishes.

Washing the dishes always take just forever. And today is the one day I want to end already, because tomorrow was going to be a special day, the most specialist of all the days, even more than Christmas. I was going to be six tomorrow.

I look up at Papa's back, waving Kumarie's paw around. "Papa, do you remember what tomorrow is?"

He looks back at me and makes a face, like he's confused. "My apologies, ange, but I don't seem to know what you're talking about. Is tomorrow important?"

My jaw drops and I fly off the chair, running up to Papa and grabbing his leg. He couldn't have forgotten about it! Papa always remembers everything in the world because he knows everything in the world, especially the most important things in the world, like this is.

"Oui! It is!" I cry, tugging hard on his pants. "Why would you forget about it?"

"Madeline, please calm down," Papa says and he's laughing. How is this funny? "I'm only joshing you, my dear."

"Huh?"

"Madeline."

"I mean, excuse me?"

"It meant I was just joking around." He gets down onto his knees and pulls me into a great big hug. I hug him back, nuzzling my nose into his shoulder. Papa always smells sweet, like flowers. "I would never, ever in a million years forget about your birthday. Especially since you're turning six!"

He let's me go and I see tears in his eyes. But I know now when Papa's tears are just joking tears. I heard something called 'melodramatic' on the TV. That's what Papa is, I think. He over does stuff so people around him can laugh.

"Mon babe is growing up so fast!"

"Oui I am!" I stretch my arms up like I did before so I'm a giant. "Tomorrow I'm going to be an ldot - "

"Adult, cheri."

"Right, ldot!" My fingers wiggle all around like snakes. "And I'm going to be just as tall as you are, Papa, and Kumarie, because she's the same age as me, is going to be big too."

"Of course, you're going to be one fine woman," Papa laughed. He picks me up and puts me on his knee, holding me on the waist so I don't fall over to the ground with a big _boom. _

"Will you tell me about when I was born again? I mean when you got me?" I ask, laughing when Papa bounces me on his knee. That story is my favourite story ever, even more than _The Velveteen Rabbit_ and _Alice in Wonderland_.

When babies are born, they're in their mothers stomachs. But my mother was gone after I came down down from Heaven and left her stomach, so Papa took me. When I was just a baby, there were two Papa's (though mine says the other would be called 'Dad'), but my now Papa left him, and doesn't like talking about the other one, because he was mean and tried to hurt everyone.

He also doesn't want to talk about the other one because he tried to take me away from Papa! I would have hated him forever if he did that.

"Mon ange...you know that I simply adore going back to the day when I took you as my daughter. As you know you're nothing more than the absolutely highlight of my life, but..." His face looks pained. He doesn't want to talk about the other one.

I don't want him to be upset, so I hug him again and say, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Papa smiles again and hugs me back. "Thank you, dear. But it will be your birthday. You'll be the birthday girl, and you'll be an adult, so you deserve to have whatever you want on your day. Now..." He puts me back down, smoothing down my curly hair. "Let Papa finish the dishes, and then we'll go on and tomorrow will be here before you know it. D'accord?"

"D'accord."

I wait, and when he's done, it's time for another part of the 'daily routine'.

We have to exercise now.

It said on TV that kids need exercise for when they'll be adults, even women need them though they don't have to be all muscles like men, so I need to get a lot in before tomorrow comes.

We go to the basement, which has a nice comfy carpet for a floor, and first we run around the ginormous room, doing a billion laps and moving like rockets. We have to do sit ups and push ups and then we dance around the room in different dances. Papa tries to teach me old stuff like ballet but I like to dance to Lady Gaga more.

Then we just play a bit, with me being on Papa's back and pretending he's a horse. But then Papa falls down because Kumarie's a full grown bear, and she's so huge to Papa can't hold her, and he flops to the floor with a goofy face and I laugh and laugh.

After exercise, we're both really hungry, so we go back to the kitchen for my favourite: hot dogs and KD, yum yum. It's funny because Papa doesn't like it, and he always makes funny faces whenever eating it, but he says we can have it again tomorrow, cause of my birthday.

The next part we can relax and watch the television. Papa doesn't like the TV too much, because he says it can rot your brains and make you stupid, but he lets me watch for a few hours. Sometimes on the weekend, which is samedi and dimanche, he watches his own shows, which are mostly real people who talk about boring things.

Me and Kumarie go into Treehouse and into all the shows and play with everyone. Today's a Wednesday, so it means we can watch My Little Pony on Treehouse. I like Flutteryshy the most because Kumarie says that we're like each other, because we're both quiet and like animals.

I go up right to the TV and put my fingers onto Pinkie Pie, because she's mostly in this one, asking how she is and if she's going to make a big party for my birthday. She says she is, and I'm delighted, but Papa tells me to not be so close to the screen.

Supper is next and we have something French with chicken in it. It's not bad, but it's almost my least favourite.

Finally it's time for our bath. We sit together in the bath tub and Papa fills it all the way up with pink bubbles. We do a contest to see who can pop the most bubbles and I win!

We have two different parts on us, and I don't know much about them because he won't tell me until I'm older (maybe tomorrow he will tell me then) but I know that it connects to the stomach so women can have their babies. I don't want a baby to come out of mine, it might hurt.

Once Papa finishes cleaning me and drains the tub, I get nice and dried in the big fluffy towel, and then put on my nightgown. It's nice and white, the colour of purity, Papa told me when he got it for me. I think purity has something to do with angels, and he's always calling me one in French.

Because of the bath, I get all sleepy, so I don't make a fuss or anything like some kids on TV do, they're what they call brats. To become a lady, like I have to, you have to be 'civilized', which means you always have to be polite, no matter what.

I'm then tucked into bed, all snug as a bug in a rug. Papa sits beside me and takes out a book - one of my favourites, Alice in Wonderland! Except he changes it around so it's Madeline in Wonderland, so I can pretend that I'm in Wonderland with the March Hare and Mad Hatter, and the evil Duchess who hurts her baby.

He reads one chapter for me and says it's time for sleep. I don't want to stop reading it, but I keep my lips zipped so I don't make him mad.

Papa gives me a kiss on the forehead and says, "Bonne nuit, my love. May you have sweet dreams. I love you."

"I love you more," I said.

"Non, I love you more."

"I love you to the Sun and back."

"I love you to Venus and back."

"I love you to Neptune and back, and all the way around again!"

Papa laughs, gives me another kiss, and leaves. He turns the light off because I'm not like those others kids who are afraid of the dark. Besides, I have Kumarie, who can be wild when she wants to. She and Papa can take out any of the bogeyman on the Earth!

I lay back and look up at the ceiling, where there are beautiful glow in the dark sticky stars. Someday I'll be able to reach them without standing on the bed. While staring at them, I wonder.

What does Papa mean by that the other one (the one called Dad) tried to hurt everyone? Why did he want to take me from my own Papa? And why was he more upset about it lately? I'm only five, but Papa has called me smart for my age, and I know when something was making him sad.

The other thing I wondered...when I was watching a show on the television, they said that kids usually started school when they were five. I'm almost six. Almost an adult. Why haven't I ever gone to school? Papa teaches me things sometimes like math, but not all the time, like they show in school.

Very soon my eyes get really heavy and me and Kumarie go to visit the Sandman. I had no time to worry about it anymore.

This is my 'daily routine'. It's always been like this.

Ever since I could remember.

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><p>And so there's the first chapter. I'm sort of having fun with this, writing like a five-year old would. c: I think this will be one of the one's I might really have fun with...if I continue.<p>

So, anyone who can guess who 'Dad' is, and why Maddie pressed on the fact that everyday is like this (is something wrong with this picture?) you get 50 awesome dollars. :L

And 100 awesome dollars to anyone who reviews...this is a different format of writing, and I'm really not sure if anyone will like it...that is, except for those who've read ROOM and enjoyed it.

So. As always of me, I would like to see **8-10** reviews, or it won't be continued. Please tell me what your thoughts are, if it's good, or so bad you want to rip your eyes out.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

I know I have two gifts I need to be working on, but I was looking through my stories and all of the ones that are in serious need of continuing. My eyes were instantly attracted to this one, and I thought 'what the hell', I should go on with this. I had fun writing the first chapter, so I know I'll fun continuing.

Thank you to everyone who commented, favourited, and added this to your story-alerts! I'm glad that the prospect of a five-year old's POV doesn't want to make everyone tear their eyes out in frustration.

Enjoy.~

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><p>The great light shines on my face and it's time to wake up again, bye bye Sandman, thank you for helping me sleep all night.<p>

Kumarie whispers again _I want to sleep more _but this time I don't agree with her because today's the specialist day of all of the days. Papa doesn't even have to say 'Rise and shine, mon cheri' because I'm already out of bed. I jumped out of it like a rabbit, the fastest rabbit ever.

Papa looks surprised when I jump out of bed, but then laughs and says, "Happy birthday Madeline."

"Merci beaucoup, Papa," I say politely. I bound over to Papa and hug his leg. He laughs again and walks out of my room with me still on his leg, making me laugh so hard I nearly fall off.

We quickly brush our teeth and hair, going fast fast fast so we can get downstairs and start my first day as being a whole six years old!

Papa picks me up and takes me to the kitchen where there are six big pancakes on a ginormous plate. Six pancakes! Usually I have three, though it doesn't always fill me up, so I'm so happy that there's six! I thank Papa and eat them all up, they fill my tummy all the way up.

After that, Papa takes me to the living room and puts me on the couch. There are six presents wrapped in pretty Christmas wrappings on the coffee table, the same number as how old I am and how many pancakes I had. I sit politely and patiently wait for when Papa says I can open the presents, as good ladies do.

"For every year you'll get one more present," Papa says, handing me one of the packages, one that had beautiful pink wrapping on it. "It's to symbolize...how grown up you're becoming. To show that you can handle more things without accidentally breaking them."

He looks sad when he talks about how grown up I'm becoming, but then he points at the package and says I can open them now. I do, trying to be careful, like Papa showed me.

There's a colouring book with all the Disney Princesses, with the biggest box of crayons I've ever seen.

There's a pretty blue bow for Kumarie, which I put around her neck. Kumarie doesn't like it right now, but she'll get used to it. I told her that she had to because Papa made it especially for her.

There's a bunch of pony toys, all with Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Princess Celestia, and Spike! Their hair's all hard and smooth, not like my Rainbow Dash toy. But that's good, because Rainbow's hair is all over the place, and Papa said that I won't need to take care of the hair on these ones.

There's also a stuffed lamb, a new Winnie the Pooh movie, and one of _Alice's _books.

I'm so happy from everything that I hug Papa so hard he nearly falls over.

For the whole morning I'm playing with my ponies, introducing them and the lamb to Kumarie. Kumarie usually doesn't like new people, but like the bow I think she'll get used to them. I think she really likes the lamb, even though I haven't gotten a name for him.

I had taken out the colouring book and was colouring Cinderella when Papa called me in to the kitchen for lunch. I was having so much fun though I didn't want to eat, but Papa said I had to or else I wasn't getting the birthday cake after supper.

So I go in and see that there's crepes. We usually have them for breakfast if I don't have pancakes or cereal, but they were really, really good.

While I'm eating, Papa starts talking. He looks sad again.

"Oh, cheri...I cannot believe that you're six. You're practically an adult now."

"I _am _an adult now, remember?"

He laughed under his breath. "Oh oui, forgive me. I seemed to have forgotten."

"Dummy," I say, but I'm only teasing.

He laughs again. "Oui, oui, Papa's a dummy." He's then quiet again, for a very long while. But then Papa talks again, and he sounds even sadder. "I do recall that you want me to tell you about how I got you. Again."

"Yes, tell me!" I cry and jump up. Papa looks at me crossly and I sit back down. "I mean, yes, if you would please tell me."

Papa makes a funny face, but also makes hand gestures so I go over and sit in his lap. His voice always sounds weird when he tells the story. He goes from sounding very happy to very sad. It's because he doesn't like talking about Dad. That's why I only ask him to talk about it on special days, not every day.

"A long time ago, Papa and Dad were together. One day they decided they wanted to have children. But remember cheri that, as they were both boys, they couldn't have children. Children only come out of girl's stomachs, not boys, because they have different parts. So we went a special place that had children who didn't have their mother's after they were sent down from Heaven.

And we found a little unnamed girl, only three and half months old but she already had the most gorgeous blonde hair, full and curly. When Papa looked over her crib, she smiled and laughed up at him. He patted her head and she grabbed one of his fingers with such a tight grip. Papa and Dad fell in love with her. It took very long to get her, because some people don't think that two boys should have a child, but they managed to get her anyway. That day when the man who owned the place with the children told them that they could have her was the best day of their lives.

They named her Madeline, a beautiful name to fit the beautiful girl. They were very happy, but sometimes Dad could be a bit mean, especially when he had his bad water. One day he did something bad, something that Papa told Madeline she should never do. Because he did this bad thing, he was taken away to be put where bad men go.

Dad tried to come back after the time there, but Papa wouldn't allow him, because Dad know always hurt something, and Papa feared that he would hurt Madeline...something that he wouldn't have dared allow him to do. Dad still tried, though...tried to..."

He stopped. My eyes were closed when I was listening, but I opened them and looked up when he stopped. One of Papa's hands were over his eyes. He was breathing heavy. I think he was crying.

I squirm all around so I can face him and take his hand off his face. He was crying. I kiss Papa's wet cheeks, getting rid of the tears with my magical kisses.

Papa smiles and hugs me close, using one hand to wipe the rest of his tears. "Merci, cheri. I'm sorry for becoming all emotional and what-not. But...that story...you know it's not one of Papa's favourites. Why don't we go back into the living room and watch that movie I got you, hmm?"

I want him to continue, but I know it makes him very sad, so I say yes and we go in.

It's a short movie, but I love it, and I try to learn the songs in the movie. That doesn't go too well, though, seeing as I only watched it once.

After that I play for a little while as Papa goes back into the kitchen.

For supper we have poutine. We're quiet when we eat.

Then my favourite, favourite part of them all, the cake! It's big and round, and it's an ice cream cake. It's white with red frosting and and vanilla ice cream. It says 'Happy Birthday Madeline' on it, and has six candles. I blow them all out and Papa claps.

The cake is absolutely delicious, and I wish the ponies and Kumarie and the lamb can have some too, but Papa says they can't.

My stomach's all full now from crepes, pancakes, poutine and cake. We go back into the living room so I can pick up all of my toys before we go for our bath.

I was putting all of the crayons back into their box, making sure the right colours were together, when the phone rang, _ring ring ring. _

I looked up and saw Papa staring at the phone. Why wasn't he answering it?

"Madeline, please go out the room while Papa talks on the phone. Go to the kitchen." His voice is very sudden and makes me jump.

I look back down at my presents. "But I haven't picked everything up yet."

"Madeline, _now_."

He doesn't sound happy. It's a thing I haven't heard before from him, I think it's close to cross. But I don't like it. I pick up Kumarie and Pinkie Pie and quickly walk out of the room.

Once I'm out, I hear Papa pick up the phone and click the on button. He says, "Hello?"

I know that peeking on someone is a bad thing, it's one of the things that Papa says you don't do, but I can't help it. Who would call that would make Papa angry? Papa's never angry at anyone. He only gets a little bit mad, and even then he's only mad for little while.

I creep back up to the doorway, right at the edge of it so Papa can't see me, and I listen, reminding Kumarie and Pinkie to be as quiet as mice too.

"Why are you calling?"

Papa's tone is all wobbly, like when he was telling me the story. He's mad and sad, all at the same time. I don't get why he is though.

"That doesn't give you an excuse to call...I refuse to talk about her to you..."

Her? Was I the her?

My fingers are now in my mouth. I'm nervous. I think I know who called, but I'm afraid. I don't want to be right.

"That doesn't justify what you did, you horrible excuse for a man - you drunk...not on it anymore? Well, look who's coming into the New Age now...Arthur you still have what happened on your shoulders, no matter how much good you do, no matter how 'cured' you are now..."

_Arthur. _

I'm suddenly very shivery. I almost let go of Pinkie.

"If you dare come within a few feet of this house I will call the police...how do you even know that...or get this number...among everything, did you acquire a habit for stalking?"

What's stalking? I'm confused now. Though still very shivery.

Papa's silent for a very long time. When he speaks again, he sounds even more weird. I can't even tell what the emotion is.

"That is none of your business...I...well, non, but I have taught her myself...how to count, colours, everything that one would learn in kindergarten...that is none of your business, Arthur!"

Kindergarten is the place that kids my age go to. I don't though, Papa's taught me everything I need to know. Why is the person on the phone talking about school anyway? I don't need to go to school because I have Papa.

"Arthur, listen to me. She's perfectly healthy, she's perfectly sound, and you coming back will only make her the opposite of what she is now...she doesn't need to be out with other children...she has her Papa..."

Silence for a long while. Then Papa yells and I jump, though he doesn't hear me.

"How dare you ask me that! Out of everyone here, you're the one who's, as you would say, 'gone off the bend'. I swear, if you try to come here, try to approach Madeline...I was kind enough to not bring a restraining order into this when this first started. But if you try to bring yourself back into her life, I will bring the law further into this. Don't call again."

He hung up. I could hear Papa's hard breathing from out here and I knew he was crying again.

I don't care if snooping was bad. I had to see if my Papa was alright.

Papa looked up when I came into the room. There were a lot of tears on his face. I don't know why, but seeing Papa cry like this made me want to cry. I tried to stop it but soon I was crying too. I ran to Papa and got up onto his lap.

He held me and we cried together.

When we stopped crying, Papa took some tissues from the tissue box and wiped our faces and noses. Without saying a word, he picked me up and we went for our bath, without picking up my gifts. We got into the tub and Papa tried to convince me to play like I usually do, but I didn't want to. He gave up and washed me, muttering something that I couldn't understand.

A silence had taken over the entire world until we went to bed. Papa tucked me and read the Alice book he got me. He then kissed my forehead, said in a wobbly voice, "Happy birthday, cheri...my little lady...I love you."

"I love you more."

"Promise me that you'll never leave your Papa."

"That isn't part of what we say," I said, frowning.

He sighs. "Please just do it, my love."

"D-d'accord. I promise that I'll never leave you."

Papa looks very happy from my words. "D'accord. Bonne nuit."

He leaves without finishing our night sayings.

I stare at the ceiling. I can't get to the Sandman tonight. I won't be able too.

All I can think about is Arthur.

Arthur is Dad.

Somehow I just know it.

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><p>For once, I don't have much to say, except...I'm probably confusing the living Hell out of anyone who's trying to figure out what the backstory for this is. I hope that this chapter puts a little bit more light on it. Though, hell, I have the entire backstory in my head and it confuses even me. Don't think that's a good thing. xD Hopefully it won't turn people off..;;<p>

As always: **8-10 Reviews = **The next chapter.

**Less than 7 = **You know the drill._  
><em>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Hetalia

**Before-Notes: **Hng. I am currently going back and forth from between being in a pissy and bummed out mood, so I'm in need of some writing to pull myself back up. As of now, I believe only this and _Show Me Love _will be the only stories of mine to be continually updated. Can't say for sure about any others, really. I'll have to see it out.

Thanks for the reviews and such, and enjoy!

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><p>The great light doesn't come for a very long time.<p>

Instead I dream. I don't dream a lot and I don't understand them. Most of the time they are too scary for me.

And this one was really scary.

All of a sudden my eyes were open, but it was still dark. I don't mind the dark, the dark isn't scary, because as Papa says 'you're not afraid of the dark, you're afraid of what's in it' and I know that there's nothing in the dark. Besides, if there was, then Kumarie would protect me from them. If something tries to hurt me she goes all teeth and claws and roar.

I looked around, thinking about going to Papa's room and telling him that I can't fall back asleep, but then my door opens and a tiny bit of light goes through the little crack. I think Papa's already up because he knows that I woke up, so I open my mouth but I can't.

My lips are glued together, zipped up like when you promise to keep a secret.

My body won't move either, and it's only then I start feeling scared.

A hand comes out of nowhere from around the door, its fingers long and white and looking really weird. Bumpy in different places and...and...I can't explain it. Some parts were connected to each other, at least that's what it looked like to me.

It wraps around the ends of the door and someone comes out from behind it. I feel myself stop breathing because a skeleton is coming out from behind the door, not the cartoon ones you see on the TV but the scary ones that I see on some days when I look out the window to other houses across the street.

Or the one I saw on TV once a few years ago, on a show that Papa won't let me watch again because I couldn't stop crying after seeing it, even though it was in a place that was meant for shows for little kids.

The skeleton looks around my black room and I hope hope hope that it doesn't see me, or that Kumarie will chomp on its bones if it does, but then it does see me, it looks directly at me, looks right at me, and Kumarie doesn't do a thing. She just lays in my arms and quivers, like she's scared too, and for some reason it's impossible to look away from the skeleton's empty black eyes.

The thing takes a step forward and suddenly I can open my mouth, so I scream as loud as I can.

I scream until my throat hurts and before it can get to me the Sandman lets me go, he lets me wake up because he knows that this was going on too long, and he can't let anything bad happen to me or Papa will become upset with him.

My eyes open to the Great Light and Papa's standing over me, shaking me and already looking upset, even though nothing's happened to me. He keeps saying my name over and over but stops when he sees that I'm awake.

"Oh thank God," he says, grabbing me into a big hug. "You were screaming in your sleep - you haven't had a nightmare for years - I'm so sorry Madeline!" He squeezed me more tightly until I could barely breathe.

I hug him back, then stop, looking around. My hands were empty - "P-Papa! Where's Kumarie?"

"What?" Papa lets me go and looks around too. He then reached down onto the floor and picked Kumarie up, giving her back to me. I take her in my arms and hug her tightly, quietly telling her that she shouldn't leave me like that again, especially not when I was having a bad dream.

"You must have dropped her on the floor during your nightmare," Papa said with a sigh, putting his hand on his forehead. He looked really tired. "I thought because of what happened yesterday I would allow you to have a day to just rest. I was going to let you sleep in late m-mais - that could have completely screwed up your schedule...I should have kept it going as it was."

"Screwed?"

"Not a word for you, cheri. It just means messed up. Oh dieu...yesterday...I just shouldn't have answered the phone...are you alright now?"

"Oui," I said. I wasn't lying. Everything that happened in the bad dream was already starting to go away. I couldn't remember much of it anymore, so I didn't think that Papa had a reason to be sad anymore.

But he also said he shouldn't have answered the phone yesterday, so he was also sad because of...yesterday...

I remember that now. It was my birthday, and after I opened my presents someone called us. _Dad. _He's my other parent, the one that did something bad, the one that isn't here anymore because of what he did. Papa always gets mad or sad whenever he has to talk about him...and yesterday was the first time they talked since I was a baby, I think, because I don't think they've ever talked before then, or else I would have known.

Papa has told me the story so many times, but yesterday was the first time that I knew for sure that Dad wasn't just a person who was made up for Papa's story.

He's real. He's like my other Papa.

And he wants to come back.

The only thing that confuses me is why Papa doesn't like him so much. Papa never told me what Dad did, all he said that it was a bad thing. And I never knew what he means by a bad thing, because there are a lot of bad things; yet Papa also said that there are levels of what a person can do.

What Dad did could really not be bad, but Papa probably doesn't know that.

Not that I cared that much. I still had Papa, and if Dad really is that bad, Papa will protect us from him.

I get up and give Papa the same big hug that he gave me before. "I'm alright now, Papa, really, you don't have to feel bad. The nightmare wasn't that bad because I can't remember any of it anymore. And you've told me before not to be scared of them because they're only pictures in our brains and aren't real."

He hugged me back, pulling me onto his lap. "I know, cheri. But I still do need to apologize. Yesterday must have been a disappointing birthday, oui?"

"Non!" I cry, grabbing the front of his shirt with the hand I'm not using to hold Kumarie. "It wasn't disappointing! It was the best birthday ever! I don't care what happened at the end, everything else I loved so much! I don't care if Dad called, he didn't ruin it at all."

"S'il vous plait, don't call him that," Papa muttered, but smiled anyway and lifted me up into his arms like when we play helicopter, making me giggle. "I'm glad that you've enjoyed yesterday, despite him ruining the party during the end there. Today you can still rest, though. Papa's going to be a bit busy today, so for the day you may play with your presents."

"D'accord," I said as he took me and Kumarie downstairs, excited that I don't have to do much. I really like having lazy days, as Papa likes to call them.

We have pancakes as always - yum! - and Papa herds me out to the living room where I sit down on the carpet and bring out all of the ponies I have so I can play with them. I love doing different scenes from the show, or making up ones of my own, and now that I have them all I can do the perfect games with them.

Well, almost. I don't have a Luna (when I asked Papa if he could get her too, he said that they didn't have her at any stores around here), only a pink Celestia, so I say that this Celestia is a fake, a bad Celestia, and she sent Luna back onto the moon until the real Princess can be found.

It's really fun playing with them, especially when I have Kumarie included, but it goes on for a very long time, so I get bored.

I look over at the living room door. Papa's still not back yet and it's been forever.

He said he was going to be on the phone a lot, in his room, but I didn't think he was going to be on it for years.

I let out a really big sigh and decide to turn on the TV. I was teached - taught, yes taught - how to read numbers and can easily change the channel now. Papa showed me which ones were supposed to be for me. I go to 29 and see that Pokemon is on.

One of my favourite shows! I love Bidoof, Cubchoo, and all the seal Pokemon the most.

With Kumarie tucked underneath my arm I crawl up onto the couch and watch happily until the show's over.

Papa still isn't back by then.

And I'm starting to get hungry.

How long is he going to be up there? Isn't it almost time for lunch by now?

Putting a big frown on my face, I reach down and pet Kumarie's head, adjusting the flower on her head. It's alright in front of her ear, and it's her favourite accessory. I gave her the flower so everyone can know that she's a girl polar bear.

What's Papa talking about, anyway? He never talks to anyone on the phone, unless we're ordering pizza or something from a restaurant. I actually think that like last night was the first time Dad called us, it was the first time in a very long while that anyone called us. Papa doesn't like talking any adults like him. It's always just the two of us, in real life or on the phone.

So who's he talking to?

I fidget in my seat. I really want to go upstairs and find out, but I'm afraid that he'll be mad if I snoop on him again. He raised me to be a lady, and ladies weren't supposed to listen in on something that didn't involve them. If their parents were talking on the phone, they were supposed to wait until they were done before trying to talk to their Papa.

I wrung Kumarie's paw nervously, arguing with myself over going up or not - and then I heard Papa's big feet clumping down the stairs. I see him walking past the living room, I think to the kitchen, and I immediately jumped off of the couch and after him. I needed to know what was going on right now!

"Papa!" I cried, squealing when he stopped and I banged into the back of his legs, nearly falling over - but I didn't!

He turned his head around, looking surprised. "W-what is it Madeline? If you were wondering why I was taking so long in getting down here for lunch, the call was going on longer than expected. My apologies cheri, but dinner might be coming along a little late as well."

"But who were you talking to?" I asked, clinging onto his pants. "S'il vous plait Papa, why are you going to be in your room for so long? Why are you on the phone so much today? Does it have something to do with Da - with who called on my birthday?"

Papa went really quiet then, so much it made me feel weird. Not scared, but, I didn't really know how I felt. All I knew is that I had to be quiet too, until after Papa finally talked.

When he did, he said, "Mon cheri, I don't think I should be telling you everything right now. You're too young to understand that-"

"I am not! I turned six yesterday, remember Papa? I'm an el-dot now!"

"Madeline!" He leaned down and pushed me away, turning around angrily. I've never seen him so angry with me before. "Do _not _ interrupt me! You are not an adult, you are still a child, and you will not be able to comprehend what is slowly beginning to happen to us-!"

By now I'm shivering badly and trying to crawl away from him, but his hand is on my arm so tight it hurts and feels like I'm going to cry. I think Papa sees this because he lets go, sighs, and gets down onto his knees. He hugs me against him and I hug him back, hoping that he'll never yell at me like that again.

"I'm so sorry, love," he said in a very soft voice, rubbing my back. "Papa didn't mean to snap at you, he would never mean to snap at his darling. Papa's just very stressed right now...Dad calling has gotten to me and I've been doing my best to keep him...out of everything, but..."

He's quiet for a long time again.

"Madeline, if Dad has his way, someone is going to come over in a few days. A special someone, a...doctor for the mind. They're going to come for you - not like that! They're not going to take me away from you, they're just going to want to talk to you and see how you are. Just like a normal doctor, but since this is a special one, they're making a housecall, like old physicians would."

I didn't get much of that except for doctor. The only times that Papa and I would go outside, away from our house, was whenever I was sick. We'd have to go to the normal doctor who would check my ears, or the one for my eyes (he said that I might need something called glasses in a few years) or for my teeth.

I never saw one for my mind though.

"You mean they check my brain?" I asked worriedly. "Won't that hurt?"

"Non, cheri. They can tell if your brain's okay just by asking you some questions. They won't even have to use anything that the other doctors use."

That was good. I didn't like all of those strange things the doctors used on me, especially when we first met (I don't like people when I meet them for the first time; they always make me feel like my body's going to explode). It usually hurt, so just asking me questions will be fine.

"D'accord. I don't mind it." I kiss his fuzzy cheek. "I'll talk to the special doctor."

"Daccord, cheri." He smiles at me, though his smile looks awfully sad. Even though it looks sad, I don't ask him about it. I don't want him to be anymore sad than he already was. "Je t'aime, my princess."

"Je t'aime aussi, Papa," I respond, giving him another kiss. He kisses me back and lifts me up so we can go the kitchen together.

The rest of the day was normal like all of the others.

I couldn't stop thinking though.

About this special doctor coming.

About Dad.

With all this thinking the special doctor might say that my brain isn't doing good after all.

* * *

><p><strong>Afterthoughts<strong>: This chapter's slightly shorter than the other two.

Just to shed a little bit of light, I'm going to explain something here: Arthur's drinking habit got him into something that landed him in jail for a short time. When he came out, he expressed want to be with Madeline and Francis again. But, during the time he was gone, Francis had to depend on Maddie, hold her as his own personal angel, and through that timeframe he started to crumble...that's all I'll give here.

I've gotten everything planned out and a lot of it is needlessly complicated. The first whole arc is going to focus on getting through the backstory and Maddie being owned by Arthur, as the next arc will die down to a less complicated script and will focus on our two main characters becoming strangely infatuated with each other.

Hope you all liked this, and please supply some wonderful 8-10 reviews for the next chapter~!


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